The Yorkshire club were rocked by Orel Mangala's 12th minute strike but hit back with goals by Jack Harrison and Luis Sinisterra in an absorbing first half at Elland Road.
Victory moved Leeds from third-from-bottom up to 13th in the table, two points above the relegation zone.
"To be honest we deserved this today. We played an amazing first half. The reaction from the team was perfect," Gracia, who replaced Jesse Marsch in February, said.
"We had 74% of possession, we dominated the game in the first half. We deserved to kill the game.
"In my opinion maybe we play the best minutes in the time I am here. The team defended really well, were really focused. It's good for our team."
While Leeds will breathe a little easier despite being very much in danger still, Forest are now winless in eight league games and dropped to 17th place with 27 points and only out of the bottom three on goal difference.
With every club in the bottom half of the table apart from Forest and West Ham United having parted ways with their manager this season, Forest's Steve Cooper is now under pressure.
He said his players had not been courageous enough with the ball and did not compete well enough.
"More disappointing we didn't compete well enough in the game. We gave Leeds too much space and we didn't get enough pressure on the ball. Leeds got the momentum and got the goals," Cooper, who got Forest promoted last season, said.
"In the second half we just never managed to get the break through and create clear-cut chances.
"There's only ourselves to blame."
Forest have not won away since January 4 and Cooper knows that is putting huge pressure on their home form.
"We can't hide from the fact our away form is awful. We just can't manage to get a result away from home," he said.
"We're really disappointed we could have gone up to 13th with a win and made a gap. But, at the same time, it's still everything to play for. It's still in our hands."
